PLEASE READ ME: I have to say something before you all start with the chapter. During the last few weeks, I have received more and more anonymous guest reviews telling me that I should update faster or 'update already' or 'get my grip together'. Till now I mostly ignored them because I can partly understand how frustrating it is when you have to wait for a new chapter. But now it has got a bit too much. I don't know if it's just one person reviewing or more but it feels a bit overwhelming. I love writing and I love that so many people like my stories. But I do this for fun and not because I have an obligation. I don't have this story all finished, I'm writing it as I go along. And I don't appreciate when people try to push me to write faster. It does nothing for my writer's block... So, I want to say please have patience with me and when you have the urge to tell me that I should write faster, just don't do it. Reviews and criticism are always welcome, but 'update already' and 'get your grip together' isn't helpful at all. If you enjoy my story then let me enjoy writing it and for that, I need my own pace.

Plus, I might need to add: English is not my first language, so it maybe takes me longer than other writers to work on my stories.

To all the other readers: thank you for the constant support and reviews and I hope you enjoy the new chapter.

ooo ooo ooo

WHAT IF

Chapter 17 - Everything Changes

Loud music blared through the full common room as Hermione made her way to her dorm room. For a second she was confused why there was a party without any reason but then she saw Fred and George standing on a table, throwing chocolate frogs and canary creams everywhere.

Today was the twins' birthday! And Hermione had completely forgotten.

The last two days she had been a bit beside herself. The break-up from Viktor hadn't exactly broken her heart, she was mostly fine. But still, it was odd to know that they wouldn't study together anymore, that he wouldn't come to sit with her or take a walk with her. Hermione wasn't sure if it was okay to greet him in the halls or during meals and if she should wish him good luck for the last task. She simply was unsure of how to behave around Viktor. And she also was a bit lonely. In the last four months, Viktor Krum had been a constant companion and friend to her. Someone she liked spending time with. Someone she liked talking to. Someone who had been nothing but genuinely nice to her and interested in her. And this wonderful friendship she had lost. Losing Viktor the friend was certainly harder and more hurtful than losing Viktor the boyfriend and lover.

Hermione had continued to go to the library to their usual times but as expected Viktor hadn't come by. In general, she hadn't seen much of him in the last days. He was still training like hell for the task. Which reminded Hermione that they also needed to train Harry. So she had focused her research on easy to learn spells that would help her best friend during his last task.

And that's how she had completely forgotten about the twins' birthday. Because her mind had been occupied with worrying about Viktor and Harry. But now the flashy decoration and music, the food and the partying students reminded her. Of course, Fred and George would throw a gigantic party for the whole house for their coming of age. And of course, the whole house wanted to celebrate with them since the two were awfully popular.

"Hermione!" Ginny and Parvati stormed towards Hermione, both a fat grin on their faces and a bottle of butterbeer for her.

"Guess what?" Parvati practically bounced up and down.

"Just tell me," Hermione rolled her eyes. She wasn't in the mood for stupid guessing games when she had no chance to ever get it right. It was surely about some new gossip.

"Seamus asked Lavender if he could talk to her in private. That was an hour ago." Parvati grinned and Hermione took a sip from her butterbeer. But she also smiled. Lavender had had a crush on Seamus since the Yule Ball. Parvati, and to some extent also Hermione, had to listen to Lavender's swooning for months and had both gotten quite sick of it. Maybe now there was hope that Lavender would finally shut up about Seamus if they dated.

"You know," Hermione grimaced as she realised something, "that now she will never shut up again, right? If they become a couple, or even if he just kisses her tonight, she will torture us by discussing every detail for months."

"Yeah, but at least she will talk about something new." Ginny grinned. The redhead had quite the talent for driving Lavender crazy and enjoyed it very much. Hermione only sighed at the prospect of a new topic for Lavender to be obsessed about but mostly she was happy for her roommate.

But no one was as happy for Lavender as Parvati. The girl hopped up and down excitedly, hoping for Lavender to show up any minute so that they could discuss what had happened. It was probably one of the perks of being a soulmate, Hermione mused. Lavender and Parvati always knew that they could count on each other. They shared everything with each other.

The three girls proceeded to search for a quieter place beside the fireplace, where they could talk in hush voices about Lavender and the latest school gossip. Normally Hermione wasn't one for gossip but since Parvati was the gossip queen and Ginny was popular enough to know almost everything, she enjoyed it from time to time. It was more like Ginny and Parvati told her everything she had missed and Hermione decided which information she deemed interesting.

Right now both girls were discussing if Cho Chang and Cedric Diggory were dating or if they had just been to the ball together. Parvati was insisting that going to the ball didn't mean that they were dating while Ginny was convinced they were. But Hermione suspected that Ginny only wanted them to date so that Harry had to give up on Cho. Even though Ginny already had had two dates with Michael Corner, the redhead still was a bit hung up on Harry. And Hermione was probably the one who understood this best.

"Oh, there is Lavender," Parvati squealed and jumped up, hurrying towards the entrance. Lavender and Seamus both stepped in with bright red faces. Lavender's eyes lit up as she saw her best friend and with a giggle, the two vanished up to the dorm rooms. Ginny and Hermione just grinned at each other. They weren't mad that Lavender decided to tell Parvati first and alone, that was normal. They would hear everything about it soon anyway.

"So, how is it with Michael?" Hermione asked as she witnessed how Ginny looked at Harry with longing eyes. Sometimes Hermione asked herself if she looked the same when she caught herself staring at Fred. But no one had asked her about it till now or commented on it, so she hoped for the best.

"It's good," Ginny smiled timidly. "He asked me out for the last Hogsmeade weekend. I think he might ask me if I want to be his girlfriend after that."

"Oh, that sounds wonderful," Hermione grinned. "Or doesn't it?" She added as she saw how Ginny's brows furrowed.

"No, it's just," Ginny started to play with her hands. "It's just that I'm not really sure if it would be the right thing to do. I mean, I like Michael, but I'm not sure if I like him enough to date him. Urg, that's just so complicated."

"I know exactly what you mean." With a quick glance around the room, Hermione made sure that no one was listening to them. Till now she hadn't had the chance to tell Ginny what had happened with Viktor. Truth to be told, she always needed some time to think about this kind of things on her own before she could tell someone about it. While Ginny was the complete opposite and talked about everything right away, Hermione only told things when she had already made her decision. But still, their friendship worked.

"Viktor and I broke up," Ginny raised her one eyebrow mockingly.

"I thought you weren't dating," she teased.

"We weren't, at least not officially. Not with that label, but you know… And now we're no longer, you know…"

"You're no longer snogging in dark corners in the library?" Ginny laughed, as she pretended to be her older brother. After Hermione had told Ginny about Fred's behaviour in the library last week Ginny loved taking the mickey out of him for it.

"Exactly," Hermione huffed.

"Okay, I'm sorry." Ginny turned serious again. "What happened? I mean, for months you told me you weren't dating and now you broke up?"

"He was jealous of Harry. He was worried that there was actually some truth in those horrible articles of Rita Skeeter and that I would decide for Harry since we're so close. He even asked Harry about it."

"And you were so angry about this that you broke up?"

"Well, no… he told me that he loves me. That's why." For a moment there was absolute silence as Ginny's jaw dropped and she stared at Hermione completely aghast.

"Excuse me, you have to explain that, I fear." And so Hermione started to explain how she had realised that she was hurting Viktor without knowing it and that she wasn't ready for such a serious relationship. Of course, Hermione said no word of being in love with Fred, because Ginny still didn't know about that. But the information was enough to turn Ginny into a solemn mood.

"You know what, I think you did the right thing. Dating someone without being serious about it... that's not fair. Do you think I should stop dating Michael? I mean... you know, because of... " Ginny waved in general direction of Harry.

"No, not necessarily. But maybe you should think about what you want before you say yes or no to him." Hermione smiled at Ginny but right as the younger girl started to say something a loud bang sounded from behind.

"GINNY! HERMIONE!" George rushed towards them, fireworks exploding behind him. He seemed a bit sloshed and Hermione thought she smelled firewhiskey. He forced himself between Hermione and Ginny on the couch and dropped one arm around each of their shoulders.

"My favourite Gryffindor girls." He laughed loudly but Hermione and Ginny only starred questioningly at him. Okay, he was definitely drunk.

"Merlin, George, you smelling like Aunt Muriel when she had a few too many birthday drinks. You better hope that McGonagall didn't hear that fireworks." Ginny forced her brother's arm away. "Please tell me that Fred isn't equally drunk. I don't think Hogwarts can handle two drunk Weasley twins."

"Nah, Angie forbid him to get drunk, that sissy. Totally wiped already." George downed another drink, Hermione had no idea where he got it from. Curiously she looked for Fred in the hope he would reign his sloshed twin in.

"You won't find him," George huffed as he saw Hermione's searching gaze. "He's off snogging Angelina somewhere. She said she had a special birthday present for him. Abandoned by my own twin on my birthday, can you believe that?"

"Well, I hoped Fred could do the dirty work but it seems like we have to. Come on, George, up with you. You should go to bed." Hermione stood up, trying to pull George up by his arm. But he was simply too tall and heavy. Plus, he was absolutely unwilling to cooperate.

"Want to get dirty, Granger? Want to get me into bed?" The twin grinned but his eyes were already glazed over by the alcohol. Ginny huffed a laugh beside them and also stood up. Together the girls were finally successful with forcing George to stand up and follow them to the stairs to the boys' dormitories. Now Hermione realised that it was already kind of late. Most students had gone to bed and only a few, like Ron and Harry, were still immersed with talking about Quidditch.

With a little bit of patience, Hermione and Ginny managed to get George up the stairs and into his dorm room. The twins shared a room with Lee Jordan and one other boy, who was mostly friends with some Hufflepuffs and kept far away from the three troublemakers. One of the beds had its curtains drawn and Hermione guessed that the fourth dormmate was sleeping there. In one other bed, Lee was snoring, still fully clothed, with open curtains.

Their room looked like any other dorm room but had quite a few tell-tale burn marks on the walls. Clothes, books, and potion ingredients were cluttering the floor. Carefully Hermione and Ginny guided the swaying George to the bed, which had a big, bright orange G engraved, and forced him to lay down.

"You know, destiny is a bitch," George muttered as they tucked him in. "I've been in love with her first..."

"Who are you talking about?" Ginny asked. A cold shiver ran alone Hermione's spine. Somehow she knew the answer even before George sighed a heartbreaking Angie.

"Gave him my blessings, of course, wouldn't be fair to keep them apart," George slurred while Ginny looked as pale as Moaning Myrtle.

"Wouldn't ask her because of me, the git." And with that, the younger twin finally drifted off. Ginny looked at Hermione, a bewildered expression on her face. Hermione knew what was going on but before she could say something the door opened and Fred stumbled in.

"Georgie," he yelled. Then he stopped in surprise when he saw Ginny and Hermione.

"What are you two doing here?" Fred asked, also a bit slurring. Hermione recognised his crumpled clothes and a bright red hickey on his neck. Quickly she looked away.

"What are we doing? What the hell are you doing?" Ginny's face went from pale to an angry red. Hermione knew this colour from Ron all too good. You had to stop this kind of rage before it got out of hand.

"Yeah, what are you doing? Getting your brother drunk and then leaving him? We almost had to carry him up here. You could at least try to be responsible now that you're off age." Hermione used her best prim-and-proper-bookworm-voice while she pulled Ginny towards the door.

"That's not what I meant-" The girl struggled but Hermione already pushed Ginny out of the door.

"Do George a favor and give him a glass of water when he wakes up." And with a last angry huff to play her game Hermione closed the door behind her. With a bit of force, she pulled Ginny to the common room and saw with relief that it was empty.

"Hermione! What the hell was that? I was going to give Fred a piece of mind. How dare he hurt George like that?"

"Angelina is Fred's soulmate," Hermione blurted out. "I heard the twins talk about it a few weeks ago. That's why George said destiny is a bitch and that he doesn't want to keep them apart." With a low umpfh, Ginny sank into the couch in front of the dying fire.

"Mum and Dad always taught us to cherish our soulmate, to treat them as the most precious person in the world. They said the connection between soulmates is special and no one should come between them. Poor George," Ginny sighed. "In love with his twin's soulmate. Destiny surely is a bitch."

OOO OOO OOO OOO OOO OOO OOO OOO

Harry's training for the third task was in full swing during the following weeks. Hermione and Ron were attacking Harry with every possible hex and curse. And he trained his hexes and curses at them to perfect them. They trained during every possible minute at every possible place. In between classes. Before and after meals. In empty classrooms and late at night in the common room. And to Hermione's relief, Harry got better really quickly and she had a good feeling about the third task. Harry could do this.

And then Harry blacked out during Divination and had a vision about you-know-who. Normally that alone would have made Hermione worry to no end. But the cherry on top was the article of Rita Skeeter afterwards, painting Harry as a crazy, attention-seeking boy. Hermione was boiling with anger and her determination to catch the awful woman was renewed.

It clicked when Hermione saw how Draco Malfoy spoke into his hands on the morning of the third task. If electronic devices would have worked at Hogwarts, Hermione would have bet everything that it was a walkie-talkie or something like that. But it couldn't be. It had to be something magical. Something small. Something that could transport information. No, maybe a way for Skeeter to get smaller. To get on the grounds without being seen.

With an excuse to Harry and Ron Hermione dashed off to the library. She needed to check this.

Hermione met with her friends much later for lunch at the Great Hall. Beside Harry, Ron, Ginny and the twins Mrs Weasley and Bill were also sitting at the Gryffindor table.

"Where have you been?" Ron asked with a full mouth, while his mother glared at his bad manners.

"Library, there was something I wanted to look up," Hermione shrugged casually. She was sure she had found the answer but for her plan to work she needed everyone else as clueless as ever.

For a while, the lunch was nice and cosy but more and more Hermione got the feeling that Mrs Weasley was treating her differently than during the last summer. She even thought that the woman glared at her whenever Hermione talked with Harry. This went on till Harry interjected and told Mrs Weasley that there was nothing between them. Hermione could tell that Ginny, Fred and George almost laughed but thankfully afterwards Mrs Weasley was as warm and loving as ever towards her.

OOO OOO OOO OOO OOO OOO OOO OOO

Hours later Hermione was in the stands with the Weasleys, watching how Harry got ready. How Cedric Diggory stared at the maze with wide eyes. How Fleur shifted her ponytail nervously every few minutes. How Viktor talked with Karkaroff, nodding about something and looking as grim as ever. Hermione hadn't wished him luck. She hadn't had the courage to approach him. And now she regretted it.

"Are you okay?" Fred whispered.

"Yeah, just a bit nervous. I hope everything goes well for Harry," Hermione answered, her eyes firmly on the champions. She was a nervous ball of energy herself. She felt like she was the one who would compete any minute, not Harry. And then the signal echoed through the air and the third task started.

The atmosphere outside the maze was simply festive. Music was being played, food was sold, and everywhere was excited whispering and talking about who was most likely to win. It seemed like the betting odds were fairly even but this time Fred and George weren't in on it. Probably because their mother was around. All in all, it was a like a festival. But they saw little to nothing from the happenings inside the maze.

The first exciting thing happened when a red signal showed on the dark evening sky. A few minutes later Fleur Delacour was brought from the maze, unconscious and with ripped clothes. A whisper of horror went through the audience. It didn't take long and Viktor was accompanied outside as well. He was conscious but had a wild look on his face.

With a clenching stomach, Hermione averted her eyes. It was hard seeing Viktor like that and she didn't want to imagine what happened to Harry right now. To her right, she heard Ron scoffing about how Viktor wasn't that good after all, but she had no energy to fight with him.

Suddenly she felt someone approaching her from the other side. When she looked up Hermione saw Fred, who offered her some Bertie Bott's Bean with a sheepish smile.

"Hermione, I know I already said it a thousand times, but I really am sorry. I didn't want to insult you back then and I know I overstepped some boundaries. I was just worried." Then he leaned down an with a conspiratorial tone Fred whispered, "so, if you want to go down and see if he's alright; I will even help with sidetracking Ron and Mum." Hermione felt herself blushing. He was too damn close.

"No, I don't think that's a good idea. We're no longer... seeing each other. And I don't think he wants to see me right now."

"What happened?"

"Well, in the end, you were right. He wanted different things than I wanted." At this Fred's eyebrows shot first up and then furrowed as he comprehended her words. Too late Hermione realised the double-meaning behind her words.

"Oh, get your mind out of the gutter. Viktor wanted a serious relationship and I'm not ready for that." Hermione blushed again. She had had no intent of ever telling Fred Weasley anything about her relationship with Viktor - or every possible future relationship - but somehow it always felt easy to talk with him. Fred was about to say something when suddenly he let out a loud yelp.

Buckets full of water - cold water probably - streamed over Fred's head and upper body. Hermione could only see a glimpse of George and Lee running away, laughing like maniacs, and hiding in between the people. Around them students started to laugh - Ron, Bill and Ginny the loudest of all - while Fred looked like a wet dog. His long red hair clung to his cheeks and his white shirt was almost see-through.

"Those gits!" Fred cursed. "Mum will flip if she sees me like this." A few more curse words escaped Fred and Hermione tutted at him for it, but she could also see that he wasn't really angry with his two best friends and partners in crime.

"That surely calls for a dorm prank war," Fred winked.

"Wait, I will help you," Hermione offered and drew her wand. Quickly she started to cast drying charms. Fred's hair and his pants dried quite well but his shirt looked crumpled and messy, even though it was dry now.

"Oh, that's no good. Give me this shirt for a minute. During the summer your Mum showed me a charm to iron clothes ." Without arguing Fred unbuttoned the shirt and now Hermione realised what she had asked him. Fred - the boy she had had a crush on since almost a year - was standing in front of her half-naked and offered her his shirt with a devilish smirk.

"Like what you see, Granger?"

"Git," Hermione grumbled as she took the piece of clothing and started the charm. At once it started to look better and Hermione was thankful when Fred started to clothe himself again. But she couldn't resist sneaking a last look when Fred slipped into the sleeves. He had such a nice, fit and well-toned chest. Firm muscles and scattered freckles everywhere.

Merlin, she had to stop ogling him, Hermione scolded herself. But then her eyes stopped at a small, black mark on his right hip bone. Normally not visible because of his pants and shirt, but right now Fred had pulled his pants a tad lower to stuff the shirt inside. It was just half a minute, but Hermione was absolutely sure. The mark was Fred's soul mark. And it was a rose. A blooming rose with a few leafs around. And it looked exactly like Hermione's own rose.

Fred had said that Angelina was his soulmate! He seemed dead sure about it. George even held back his own feelings to support them. But this soul mark. The words were stuck in Hermione's throat as she tried to make sense of this. But even if Hermione had had the words to say something - to demand to see the mark again - at this moment the band started to play again and cheers erupted from the audience.

Hermione and Fred's head whipped to the entrance of the maze where Harry was kneeling in front of Cedric. Cedric, who seemed unnaturally pale and stiff. Slowly the cheers turned silent and instead from somewhere a scream sounded. And then hell broke loose.

OOO OOO OOO OOO OOO OOO OOO OOO

The train ride home from Hogwarts was curious this year. Hermione was sure that for once Harry was actually glad to escape the school for a while. To escape the stares and whispers and everything else. Hermione too was glad. The last weeks since the third task had been exhausting. It should have been the most wonderful weeks. They should have celebrated the end of the tournament, the end of their exams, and enjoyed the last weeks of the summer. But instead, they had mourned the death of Cedric Diggory and had witnessed the absolute stupidity of Cornelius Fudge. Things were changing. And they were changing quickly.

And now Voldemort was probably back, preparing himself for another war, while Hermione sat at a carriage with a beetle in her bag and an exhausted, traumatised best friend in front of her. She also had Viktor's home address in her bag. He had asked her to stay friends, to write from time to time. That was at least one good thing. But everything else was just messy.

Harry laughed for the first time in weeks when Fred and George entered the carriage after they all had hexed Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle at the same time, resulting in a hilarious chain reaction from the different spells. Hermione witnessed how the twins changed the mood of her best friend in just seconds with their jokes and smart remarks.

The last few weeks Hermione had determinedly ignored every thought about Fred's soul mark. In the end, it didn't matter right now. Right now Fred was dating Angelina and he believed her to be his soulmate. True or nor, Hermione didn't know how to talk with him about this. If she was wrong, then she would be forever embarrassed. If she was right, then she would break Fred's and Angelina's hearts. Everyone could see that they genuinely liked, maybe even loved, each other. Plus, it would seem like she wanted to force Fred to have feelings for her. After all, soulmates didn't necessarily need to be lovers, maybe they were just made to be friends.

So, Hermione leaned back into her seat and just enjoyed the most normal few hours they had had in the last weeks. And then she would enjoy the vacations with her parents. She would travel with them, enjoy the normality of being a muggle and having no magic around. Well, no magic besides a small beetle in her bag.

Okay, I know it took me a while but there was Christmas and the holidays and I was stressed. I visited my family for a while and had no time to do anything. I hope you liked the new chapter. Next one: Grimmauld Place and the start fifth year.

And of course, I wish you all a HAPPY NEW YEAR. I hope you all have a good start into 2019!